How's life treating ya?

Its simple in South Africa, you work the hours they tell you with no overtime, or they fire you and find someone else who will do it!

I am sure not all places are like this, but I was working 64 hours a week and had the unmitigated gall to ask about overtime. They explained away most of my overtime hours as being "my choice", so I then chose not to work those hours. I got put in disciplinary for that and had my promotion taken away from me. Two days later I told them where to shove their job and what direction to shove it too. Never been happier since I left there.

Rather fittingly, a month after I left, the place was robbed at gunpoint. Good job they forced me out

(yes, me in cynical bleh mood)

Honestly, am doing pretty well lately. The life and the cosmos have finally seen it fit to give me a special beloved someone in Real Life. We just started to hit it off around the 15th of this month. We agreed to see each other on a permanent basis and be pronounced as a couple on that certain date. We are destined to go out a couple times more and then she even agreed to get a couple ring on our first month. She seems to really wanna take it seriously as well as i do. So hopefully everything works out.

Following this, am more inspired to work. Least now i would be working for something. Instead of trying to survive everyday life. Least i will be looking forward to something else day to day. Really hoping everything works out. Well given women are more complex than man, she has not been as sweet as i am in our relationship. But i will give it time. Not to mention, i did have the advantage of being on vacation. While she was having a hectic life. Work and such. Well that is for now. Wish me luck.

Good luck. I always wish the best for young people to not be scarred for life in a hellish marriage....!

(just kidding)

Yeah the labor laws here suck so bad. Recently with the newest stuff they've implemented here my hubby can't work more than 20hrs with his new job unless they decide to hire him on full time, in which case so far it's saving them more money not to :/ It was suppose to be a positive change for us and it's turning out to be quite the opposite. At my job before I lost it they kept track of our hrs and wouldn't let us work over 40 for OT unless they were in desperate need. Which should have been a sign for me you think? LOL They eventually closed down 'due to the economy' and permanently layed us all off.

The company I previously worked for used to pay overtime (time and a half) for anything in a given week over 40 hours, they didn't do it on a two week basis. For example in a two week pay period I could work 35 hours one week and 45 hours the second week and that extra 5 hours the second week would count as overtime. I used to do that a lot if I had to miss a couple hours one week (for something like dentist appointments). I could work 37 hours one week and then 42 hours the next week and it would come close to evening out, even without me working a full 80 hours.

I'm in PA also . . . so as far as I know in general that's how it is, though I probably had a bit more leeway as I one of the accountants. I eventually got moved to salary though, then I eventually quit that job shortly after I took my RK hiatus .

I think PA is pretty decent with it's labor laws, and I've been working here since I was 14.

Life fucking sucks and nobody really gives a fucking shit...


thank you and have a nice fucking day

Right now, they are working on increasing the minimum wages in both State and Federal here. Its a sizeable increase, which means depending on the person you are, a better quality can of Spam, another meal at Mc Donalds, or a few extra dollars saved after paying for the water bill.

I agree with Anto, the labor laws are practically nonexistent. Shockingly, the United States has NO protection on vacation, sick leave, or paid time off. Its given to employees by companies on a whim (and possible revolt). Which is why Europe should not envy there at all. I hear that Europe has some of the best vacation/paid time off/sickness time around, plus they have better care of their aged population. Hours worked and actual pay is visible monies paid, but the invisible benefits like good medical or dental, and paid sick time, make up for a huge amount.

Consider this: would you like to be paid $30 U.S. dollars an hour with no medical (which costs $400 a month on the average for just that around here), or half that with full medical, vision, dental, and 401K plan (which is basically saving money for retirement and the company matches it)?

The increase in minimum wage is going to screw me. I am currently going to college full time so can only work a few hours a week. The increase in minimum wage will be nice for a while, but it is going to cause the price of living to sky rocket.

Imgine owning a company and paying your lowest level workers minimum wage to produce canned soup (or whatever). You are able to sell the soup for a dollar, and the company can still do well, increase, hire more workers, rinse and repeat.

Now imagine that this same company has to increase what they pay the majority of their workers by 125%. They are obviously going to have to increase the price they charge for their product in order to stay a float (or lay off a large number of their work force, 20% would equal it out). Because they increase their prices for a basic product, the cost of living is going to go up. So the government in their misguided attempts to make everything "fair" will increase the minimum wage. Again, rinse and repeat.

Id rather have a strong economy were I can work my way up rather than keep getting screwed in the ass by the government raising the minimum.

About medical, most full time positions pay for atleast some sort of medical vision dental and 401k (atleast most that are around in my area or I have some sort of knowledge of). Hell even though I think it is a horrible idea it looks like Obama is going to be shoving the above down our throats wether we want it or not.

So yes, I would rather make 60k a year, have some sort of health/vision/dental insurance, and a 401k (lets not go into SS because that pisses me off).

And then there is taxes. In the U.S., they are too high. In Europe, they are way too high (from what I have heard). I would rather choose how to spend my money, be it on education, medical, or a trip to aruba, rather than have the government waste half of it, and tell me they are going to spend the other half on this and I have no choice in the matter.

/end rant

No, you've got it all wrong. The companies are ALREADY screwing us over here in the U.S. Cost of living in general is the HIGHEST in the U.S. here, I tell you, so anything you pay for wherever you are, add 30% to it. What the states and government are doing is what we call "catch up", meaning they are trying to get people to earn more just to live.

But yes, in the end, the prices will keep going up. But the paycheck is increasing to cover the cost of living, not the reverse. I see it over the years how it is.

(If you remember when soda was 25 cents and movies were two dollars, then you are definitely middle aged!)

Anyone who thinks the weak rise in minimum wage is going to make anything worse is sorely misguided.

P.S. If you are single, living by yourself- meaning you pay your own fucking bills- you have to make over 15 an hour to not live in poverty in the USA. And work 40 hours a week.

Guess what? 4 years ago it was 14 an hour. The minimum wage didn't change, but the cost of living already rose.


Stop being misguided and open your eyes to how the real world works, before you learn the hard way and are on your ass.

And yes, minimum wage should be about 12-14 bucks an hour imo.I don't give a shit if that means McDonalds makes 1 billion less a year. Fuck corporate America, fuck the greedy. Kill them all.

You know what is funny about that? When I worked at Target, I got paid minimum wage. I worked part time for them. Because part time isn't enough to get by (this is when I was going to college full time), I got another part time job at a local art supply store. The locally owned store paid me $12 an hour.

I always found that interesting. Target, the multi-million (billion?)dollar company paid shit whereas the small business paid me almost double minimum. Side note: Target yanked part time health insurance when I worked for them. This was in 2003, before anyone crows about the Affordable Care Act...proof that it is corporate culture to fuck the underlings, it is nothing new to take away medical care when corporations get greedy.

During the summer I work for a local grocery store. We have a union which got us an extra 10 cents an hour. Of course it costs us $10 a week in dues, but who is counting the fact that it would take 66 hours a week (including over time) to get that back

Basically I think it all depends on were you work. I know walmart usually pays over minimum, my local store doesn't really, even with the union. All depends on how much of a worthless piece of shit the owner is

Annnd it deleted my long post Ill retype it later I guess lol

I might lean left, but even I think unions are bloated organizations that lost sight of their true purpose long ago.

I think of unions back then, and think of protests against unfair labor and wages. I think of unions now, and think of road construction workers sitting on their fat asses getting paid to eat their sandwich, shutting down lanes of traffic just to make their quota while they pretend to fix shit.

On another note, fuck the DoT.

I really relate to the sitting on their asses pretending to work with closed lanes bit. Always going on here in Dublin. (grr!)

Really strange - it was snowing in Phoenix, Arizona today. 40 degrees right now, I love it. Makes me feel like I'm back in Chicago.

anto_capone wrote:

I might lean left, but even I think unions are bloated organizations that lost sight of their true purpose long ago.

I think of unions back then, and think of protests against unfair labor and wages. I think of unions now, and think of road construction workers sitting on their fat asses getting paid to eat their sandwich, shutting down lanes of traffic just to make their quota while they pretend to fix shit.

On another note, fuck the DoT.

I couldn't agree more, I'm not really anti-union . . . but I think they've evolved into something that isn't beneficial to the workers. There has to be some give and take and there's no give with unions. I think when they started pushing real hard, they didn't anticipate that companies would just up and move to other states/countries. Union workers get good benefits if you're lucky enough to get a job with one, but I've noticed that companies that have huge labor unions presences tend to crumble quicker (the only exception being government unions, but that's a whole different topic).

I was briefly in a union when I was doing some internships at the PA Dept of Revenue. I wasn't allowed to pick up my own chair if it got knocked over, because the state union negotiated that it wasn't one of my job duties . . . I think things like that are just ridiculous.

I gave up on unions when my union rep suggested that answer to my problems with medical aid was to marry him! I wasn't that desperate to get out of the scheme lol! The scary thing is - the man was deadly serious.

Speaking of getting married- our wedding is in a little over 6 weeks from now!

I worked and was part of an established Union ILWU 1147, long ago. Anto is completely right, they do a lot of taking and I got zero give from them. They are elected too, so basically we voted them to screw us over. How about that?!

The other point he made was single working 40 hour and $15 U.S. dollars/hour to survive beyond a trash heap. Right on the money, did that too. Although you can cut corners a bit and do it for $13.94. Just don't get sick.

Anyone who is whining about their job better shut the hell up right now. You HAVE a job, and even minimum wage is better than ZERO. Unemployment is the ultimate low point, so looks like when you are that level and get anything at all, even 8 hours a week for near nothing, its better than ZERO. I suppose thats what you call understated optimism.

Oh, yeah Terrasophia, congratulations on finding the love of your life. Woof, thats awesome possum for you to have that coming up! Free advice: Cute pet names for each other is good. Telling you love each other once a day is good. Telling each other how you feel about something immediately, bad or good, is necessary. You keep doing that, and all the other little things that turn up will work itself out.

One more thing. Don't let money get in the way, ever. You cannot take it with you. At least, I don't think so. Let you know in about 50-60 years on that one.

Hmm, anyone who has run DDO with me knows what kind of "pet names" I use. Luckily Ragehammer doesn't mind.

Congratz Terra!

Woke up so sick this morning ugh lol, sore throat fever etc. No fun! Kinda figured I would be tho, kinda felt like crud the last few days :/

I wrote an essay but it is a pretty dull lifestory, yawn. Trinity, you're cute and smart, good luck, you'll find something you enjoy! Personality, common sense and the ability to grasp new things are most important. Most people have a degree, it isn't useful unless Bsc and if necessary to obtain niche analytical or practical skills. I've only mostly ever worked on low pay via contacts to present and the only thing useful is to invest all savings into a postgrad as a degree alone is too common, sometimes experience is more beneficial than a degree if there's at least decent grades. With a lot of firms which are to do with sales or where it is needed to be the face of the business in terms of meeting people, appearance is quite important in the hiring process and it isn't compulsory to have half a wit, aslong as it is easy to be liked and build enough relationships to get info out of people. I deleted a bit of crap and the rest is too specific... When I worked in small places, it was never secure and I feel the same way when joining a big name. It is too easy to sack people in private sector and we were discussing if some of the shit is even allowed. People tend to have no idea they're about to go. I look at other options just in case as people come and go too often

Only have one thing to bitch about today.

I thought the pill was supposed to help control moods, not make it worse. I swear all I wanna do is punch the face off of the person who makes me mad even with this slightest push.

I apologise in advance (and for recently) any drama I have/will cause as a result of my instability. I should probably stop saying no to antidepressants but fuck that.